Taylor Swift relives her Les Mis screentest with Eddie Redmayne on the Graham Norton Show
(Picture: PA)Taylor Swift has hilariously recalled her nightmare audition for the movie version of Les Miserables.
The 2012 flick was an adaptation of hit stage musical Les Misérables which was in turn inspired by the classic book by Victor Hugo.
Set in the 19th century during the French Revolution, singer Swift, 32, had been up for the coveted roles of Cosette and Eponine, and was invited to try out alongside Eddie Redmayne who had been cast as Marius. But it didn’t quite go to plan.
Appearing on the Graham Norton Show to promote her album Midnights, she explained: “Basically I was up for two roles — I had the look of Cosette and the range vocally of Eponine, so it was established I was there for a good time but not for a long time, I wasn’t going to get the role. But, they asked if I would like to go to London to do a screen test with Eddie, who is one of my favourite actors, and I thought ‘This isn’t an experience I am going to get again in my life,’ so I said yes.
“When I got there they put me in full 19th century street urchin costume and told me they were going to paint my teeth brown and I was like, ‘You are going to do that after I meet Eddie Redmayne right?’ But no, they made me look like death and it became a nightmare. When I met Eddie I didn’t open my mouth to speak!”
Oscar-winner Redmayne, who also appears on this week’s episode of the BBC chat show, then chipped in: “I thought we would just be singing off each other — I didn’t know we would be in each other’s arms. My overriding memory of it is that I had had pizza and garlic dough balls beforehand and all I could think about was my garlic breath while Taylor was dying in my arms and I was trying to show emotion.”
Amanda Seyfried and Samantha Barks were eventually cast as Cosette and Eponine respectively, with the film going on to win three Oscars.
Swift later went on to star in the 2019 musical adaptation of Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats, but she probably is hoping to forget about that too given it was universally panned.
Cats dominated the Razzie Awards for the worst movies of that year, winning six trophies, including worst film, screenplay and director.
